March 2012

March 22, 2012

As rumors swirl and dance about in the blogosphere about Apple's coming HDTV, an Apple patent application pops up just in time to tease us about some of the possible new features that their TV remote may offer. While some of the features may apply to Apple's own HDTV, Apple's planned invasion of this market means attacking the entire market which includes TV's already in the marketplace today. One of Apple's wild new universal remote features works like this: you take a photo of your current TV remote and it sends it to iCloud for analysis. It then sends a "virtual copy" of your remote, functionality and all, to your iPhone. You're now able to control your current TV with Apple's advanced universal remote and enjoy all of Apple's TV remote features and likely tie-in products and services. Is that wild enough for you?

March 21, 2012

On March 21, 2012, the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple's latest trademark applications for Siri's stylized microphone logo. Apple has filed six applications for Siri's logo in the US and a single application in Europe under several key International Classes covering such matters as online social networking services, business services, telecommunications, voice recognition, reservation services and more. On another front, a new Class Action lawsuit has been filed against Apple over Siri. One of the five counts listed in this new Class Action involves Apple's alleged misleading iPhone 4S ads featuring Siri. Our report covers the basics of this new case while questioning whether or not this new trend of filing consecutive Class Action lawsuits against Apple is really coincidental.

March 20, 2012

In early March Apple was granted a patent for a never before seen patent regarding Apple's forthcoming iWallet. The patent focused on parental controls for an iWallet and made a connection to a vague iTunes application and/or methodology. Today, another major component of Apple's iWallet was revealed in yet another granted patent. Today we learn about major security measures that the iWallet will employ and see more of the iTunes financial app that is temporarily being dubbed "MobilePay." The app takes on the appearance of a convenient tab found in iTunes, just like it is today for your apps, music or photos. Today's report fills you in on the latest features that Apple is thinking of bringing to the iWallet along with a great number of screenshots of various iWallet functions. If future electronic commerce with Apple's iWallet is a topic of interest to you, then you're going to enjoy this read.

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of seventeen newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In our first report of the day we covered a design win for Apple's Shanghai Store. In our second report of the day we focus entirely on Apple's first coded magnet patent win as it relates to their iPad Smart Cover. Apple officially introduced the iPad Smart Cover a year ago and the first patent about the iPad Smart Cover surfaced in December 2011. Kicking off 2012 we were able to view Apple's dramatic overview of their coded magnet technology which provided us with a peak of what could be in the pipeline for this promising technology. While Apple has received their first coded magnet patent today, it certainly won't be their last.

Apple has many flagship stores in high profile locations around the world such as New York, Beijing, London, Paris, Montreal, Chicago, Sydney and Zurich. Today, the US Patent and Trademark Office granted Apple a design patent for their flagship Shanghai Apple Store which opened its doors in September 2010. One of the designers credited for this incredible architecture is the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

March 19, 2012

It came to light in 2008 that an Apple research team was working on a visual headset for the iPod. In recent months news has surfaced that a next generation super high res micro OLED display is ready to support new visual headsets coming to market later this year. The stunning miniature displays pack quite the punch with a resolution of 2560 x 2048. Since that news, we've reported on a Sony research team working on a video headset for a future PlayStation while noting that Google may want in on this new market as well. While the race is clearly on to get the first commercially successful video headset to market, Patent Bolt has discovered that Microsoft has been secretly working on a video headset since September 2010. A New Microsoft patent reveals that they've been working two styles of headset. The first relates to an aviation styled helmet aimed at Xbox gamers while the second resembles a pair of sunglasses for use with smartphones, MP3 players and other future devices. With Microsoft's success with Kinect for gaming and beyond, it would appear to me that they might just have the edge in this race. Read More at Patent Bolt

China's Hong Kong IP Office has officially published a series of eleven newly registered design patents for Apple's retail store stands noted in our cover graphic. As you'll see, the official description of the retail-stands in the registered documents is pretty skimpy: "Stand as well as a combination of a stand and electronic device." No technical details were provided for public consumption.

March 17, 2012

A Washington DC Communications Consulting firm known as Trans Video Electronics is suing Apple for video distribution over the iTunes Store network. The same patents in this case were used in a prior case against Sony. In October 2011, Sony won their case against Trans Video Electronics Ltd. who was suing them for video distribution technology used in the PlayStation Network. I guess some believe in the old adage that "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

March 16, 2012

On March 16, 2012 the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple's latest trademark application for "Apple Configurator" under application 85563555. Apple filed their trademark to cover "computer software used to configure multiple digital electronic devices." The new Apple Configurator, which was only released on March seventh, is a free App from the App Store. Apple Configurator was designed to make it easy for IT departments to mass configure and deploy iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch in a business, institution or school. As the new iPad launches today, I suspect that many of them will be marching directly into more offices around the world, and Apple Configurator is going to make that process much easier.

March 15, 2012

On March 15, 2012, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that refines an older 2008 patent on using Ultrasonic bonding in products like the 2009 metal back iPhone and current iPods. Apple may have refined the process of ultrasonic bonding in their latest Apple TV and iPad designs where it's necessary to bring metal and plastic together to save on costs and to keep the devices lighter.

On March 15, 2012, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that delves into the world of Multi-Player gaming. Apple provides us with a number of gaming examples and meaty details of how they'll provide team members of a multi-player game with the ability to view common objects within a game from differing perspectives. If you're a hard-core multi-player gamer that wants to see what's coming to iOS gaming, then you'll enjoy this report. Additionally, our report details Apple's new "Find my Friend" App that was first introduced in October 2011. Some of the very same technology that's behind Apple's "Find my Friend" will be applied to Apple's next-gen multi-player gaming. With Apple's new iPad launching tomorrow with its Insanely Great Retina Display – gaming is about to go to the next level.

March 14, 2012

On March 14, 2012, the US Patent & Trademark Office officially published Apple's latest trademark activity for Thunderbolt. The notice was mailed out on February 22, 2011 with the publication date noted as March 13. Technically the trademark has been registered to Apple in order to get into the US Patent and Trademark Office's Official Gazette. But there could still be some fireworks until it's officially a done deal.

Canada's IP Office has officially published a series of seven registered industrial designs covering Apple's iPad and iPad Smart Cover. There's a noted peculiarity in one of the registered designs which involves its classification detailing including the word TV.

March 13, 2012

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of twenty-three newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In our first report of the day we coveredthe iPhone's Missed Phone Call Management system. In our second granted patent report of the day we focus on Apple's design wins for various iPods and the MacBook Air. And lastly, we cover a MacBook Pro patent that pertains to the clutch mechanism that supports the Lid so that it opens, closes and stays in position just right.

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of twenty-three newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this report we focus on a single patent regarding the iPhone's "Missed Phone Call Management" system while presenting you with an additional sixteen links to other granted patents that you may wish to explore.